So some German things are less expensive in the U.S. than in Germany? Just curious; any examples of what the difference is?

Yes, many german goods are less expensive in the US.Often the price difference is huge.

Ultrasone Edition 9 for instance (lowest prices I've seen):

US: ~$1100

Germany : ~$2100

I thought it was due to VAT.

yea, but most of us have yet to get a good listen to some of those god-like K1000 rigs. even this past meet was too noisy to really get an impression of what the zanden sounds like.

I'm a believer in the magic of good 300B amps. With my friend's monoblocks it made my Melos/Pass Labs/K1000 setup look like child's play.

I've tried the K1000 with a Cary 300SEI. It sounded very good, but not better than various Stax, HE90, HE60 or even the L3000 and PS-1.

This was a stock K1000 with a 3rd party tail-end cable. Maybe a fully-recabled K1000 and another 300B amp will perform much better.

I've tried the K1000 with a Cary 300SEI. It sounded very good, but not better than various Stax, HE90, HE60 or even the L3000 and PS-1.

This was a stock K1000 with a 3rd party tail-end cable. Maybe a fully-recabled K1000 and another 300B amp will perform much better.

Read up on the Cary 300SEI

My K1000 is using a stock cable. His 300B monoblocks and my K1000 was the best headphone system I've ever heard, recabling them never even crossed my mind.

Personally you have to enjoy the tonality and signature of the k1000 to begin with. I've heard the best K1K setups too, and loved them. BUT, in the end, the tonality and signature just isn't my style. Although I can recognize and enjoy good sound when I hear it.

Neil

Read up on the Cary 300SEI

My K1000 is using a stock cable. His 300B monoblocks and my K1000 was the best headphone system I've ever heard, recabling them never even crossed my mind.

I listened to jp11801's Cary 300SEI with K1000s and preferred both the Sig 30 and F1 to it, though, in fairness, I don't remember what tubes were being used at the time, and that could make a boatload of diff. I was also a bit disappointed in it with the R10s as I heard it was "the" amp for R10s. Again, could have been the tube thing, though.

It (Cary/R10) certainly is a nice combination if you don't mind a lot of tubey-ness, but it's a form of distortion, and certainly one of the nice things about the R10 is its ability to convey detail, and you kind of lose that with this combination. You've basically reduced the headphone to a <US$1K headphone.

I personally do not enjoy the Cary's 300B mush. It feels like I'm being drowned in sap. Of course, it might be a decent match with the K1000 for some people since the K1000 is quite neutral. For me, I think a sweet yet clean sounding tube amp would be perfect for the K1000.